


Now You Know

by daisyqiaolianmay (skinman)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Mentions, Family, Fluff, Gen, Humour, Philinda - Freeform, Slightly - Freeform, i did not know i was capable of this, not angst for once. yay!, prompt, this is pretty much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:36:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5218163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skinman/pseuds/daisyqiaolianmay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Prompt: "Somehow both May's parents end up at the Playground and Skye/Daisy likes to pester her about how much baby-ing she gets. Extra points if you make Skye/Daisy use it to her advantage."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now You Know

“Couldn’t you have just… taken them to a safe house?” He asked, palms sweaty, feeling a little less in control than he should on a base he was the Director of. William May he could handle, the man was pretty easy-going, but Lian May, she was a whole other ball game.

May shot him an icy glare as they strode, side by side, heading for the base’s hanger. The deep rumble of a plane arriving vibrating rhythmically throughout the Playground.

“Doesn’t your mom have her own someplace out the way?” Coulson couldn’t believe an ex-CIA operative of Lian May’s calibre didn’t have a safe house somewhere, a bunker or something, to hole up when trouble came knocking.

“Phil.” May almost growled, “Stop it.”

Phil threw up his hands defensively as Melinda brought her lanyard up to reader, the doors sliding open in front of them. “I’m just saying, perhaps there are better-”

“This is the best option.” May cut him off. If Coulson wasn’t so persistent he might have been amusing.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Daisy sidled up to them, glancing between her superiors and the small jet plane that was descending into the center of the airplane hangar. Engines rattling, ivory paint glistening under the sun that was streaming in through the open ceiling, so many pairs of eyes watching the scene unfold.

“The Director’s scared of my mother.” May answered simply, coldly, moving swiftly away and across the dented concrete as the plane’s engines died.

Phil opened his mouth to rebuke her, failing to find the words he closed it again, realising she was absolutely right. Lian had never liked him, she hadn’t seen him in nearly a decade, but he doubted that much had changed.

Daisy chuckled to his left, arms folded, observing Coulson’s face closely, “That true?”

He turned his head slowly, shooting her a withering look he gave little away, before heading off to follow May’s lead.

Daisy clicked her tongue, nodding to herself, she watched Coulson’s back as he walked away, “Just for the record, I’m taking that as a yes.”

Phil struggled to know where to put his hands as the gangway released, deciding to wrap them together at his front just as the sound of metal clunking into place echoed through the air. A group began to descend into the base.

A couple of his own agents emerged, dressed head to toe in black combat gear, guns strapped to their sides. They flanked the couple in the centre; a small, elderly east-Asian woman ready with a disapproving glare Phil assumed she had prepared just for him, and the spindly old man at her side, glancing around curiously, showing no sign of fear as he took in his new surroundings. His eyes found his daughter.

“Ah! Finally.” He exclaimed. “I am not a fanatic of airplanes.”

Lian looked Coulson up and down analytically as the four drew closer together, and he tried desperately not to squirm under her scrutiny, “Phillip.”

“Mrs May.” Phil nodded respectfully, his thin smile awkward in nature.

“Hi.” Daisy interrupted. Keen to see whether May’s words had been the truth. She observed the palpable tension between Lian May and Coulson and deduced that they really had been, completely. There had to be a good story there.

William chuckled to himself, tilting his head at the girl with a smile, “You must be Daisy.”

Daisy’s face fell a little way in shock, an eyebrow raised. Her gaze drew away from the old man to come to rest on May’s downcast face as she refused to look at the younger agent. May was the only one who could have told her father about Daisy. “Yeah, that would be me.” She confirmed, still smiling at May as the woman refused to so much as glance her way.

“Mellie talked about you.” William confirmed. Melinda threw her eyes up toward the heavens in acknowledgement of his statement, only corroborating it further.

Daisy bit her lip at the nickname, the temptation so strong she couldn’t contain herself, “Did Mellie, really? That’s… sweet.”

May shot her such a powerfully dark look Daisy took a tiny step back, adverting her eyes, yet still smiling to herself.

Coulson released a breath, eyes a little wider than normal, “Should we go inside?” He made it a question, too unnerved to make anything sound too much like an order.

* * *

 

Despite May’s desperate attempts to keep Daisy and her father separate nothing seemed to work for long. They seemed quite taken with each other.

“I never knew that.” Daisy grinned, pulling her knees in closer, clutching a cup of steaming cocoa close as the light drew inward. The automatic lamps had long since come on, and many of the other agents had retreated to their bunks for the night.

William told his stories with flourish, a wise and all-knowing edge, “Yes. Yes, Melinda used to be quite clumsy. That poor dog was never the same.”

“Lies, Baba.” The surprisingly amused tone of Melinda May reached the pair where they were settled on the couch in the rec room. “You left out the part where I tripped over him first.” This was Mellie, giving in. There was no way she could stop this, but at least she could moderate it.

She appeared from the dark door frame, tapping Daisy’s shoulder lightly, signalling for her to move over to make space.

The man laughed, barely but heartily, “Yes. Poor, poor thing.”

“I had no idea you had a dog?” Daisy said as she brought her legs up, crossing them in the centre of the couch.

“Toodle.” May sighed, “I loved that dog.”

“Yes, I think I brought…” William held up a hand, an expression of wonder passing over his features. He rose, and scuttled out the door before either woman could say a word.

“He’s not at all how I imagined.” Daisy admitted after a moment.

“What did you imagine?” May frowned, turning to the girl.

Daisy shrugged, “I don’t know. The male you, with… grey hair.”

Melinda smiled slightly, “I’m more like my mother.” She hadn’t been so much like her mother when she was younger, but she didn’t mind one bit her father telling her that she was now. Her mother could be disapproving, sometimes pushy, but she was kind, and strong, and she’d been Melinda’s hero for as long as she could remember.

“Except you like Coulson.” Daisy added, remembering the awkward exchange in the hanger.

“That’s a story for another time.” May said firmly.

“I found them! Knew I’d brought them.” William pottered back into the rec room, an envelope in his hand.

“Baba,” May warned, eyes narrowing as her father fell back into his place on the couch, “What is that?”

“For you.” William offered Daisy the gift.

Daisy’s lips parted in interest, not quite understanding. She accepted the envelope, flicking it open to tug out it’s contents. A photo, a little girl in a silver leotard and a large, black dog with a long, red scarf wrapped haphazardly round it’s neck. They were sat together at the edge of an ice rink.

May’s face turned stony. Of course her father had brought photos.

“Oh my god, is that May?” Daisy gasped, peering at the girl in the picture. Her other hand shot out to grasp the woman’s arm, “You were so cute.”

For about the fourth time that day Melinda May prayed to whatever or whoever was out there for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

“I have many, many copies. These are yours.” William told her, eyes glistening with humour.

Realising there was nothing she could do May made a decision, her voice low with light-hearted resignation, “I’m going to bed.”

Daisy barely even registered the soft hand squeezing her shoulder, too engrossed with flicking through the small pile of childhood snapshots.

“Night.” William bided his daughter as she exited wordlessly.

“Oh, is that?” Daisy’s jaw dropped in disbelief with the next photograph she uncovered. It was too good to be true.

There was May, so young, maybe no more than 20 years old, but already with the S.H.I.E.L.D eagle printed on the fabric over her heart. She was smiling, small and promising, dark eyes glittering at the person behind the camera. An equally young man had his arm around her, all sharp edges and wiry muscles. He wasn’t particularly tall, his chin jutting only just above May’s head; he was smiling as wide here as he had at her less than 24 hours ago.

Sometimes Daisy forgot how long Coulson and May had been part of one another’s lives.

She flipped the photograph over in her fingers, reading, _‘Melinda and friend (Phil) June 1985’._ God… she hadn’t even been born then. Daisy wouldn’t exist for a good couple of years afterward. This shot was older than she was, and yet it was a part of her history, from before she’d even been a part of this family. This weird, troubled, slightly dysfunctional, beautiful family. They might not be blood, and they might spend more time wounded and traumatised than most, but they still deserved that title.

“Strange to see, isn’t it.” William chuckled.

Daisy nodded slowly, still running her gaze over the faces of the familiar cadets in the picture.

“I have more.” The old man whispered, earning a wondrous look from the girl in front of him.

 

* * *

 

Lian had to admit, albeit never out loud, that there was something incredibly endearing about Daisy. She could see how the young agent had managed to get under her daughter’s thick skin.

“Please.” Daisy tried not to beg, and failed.

Lian concentrated on making the tea, pouring the boiling water carefully, her back to the girl as she leant over the counter in her desperation.

“No one else will tell me.” Daisy pleaded, “I’ve never seen Coulson so tight-lipped, and… I’ve seen him pretty tight-lipped before.”

Lian rolled her eyes, tossing a couple of teabags into brew. “He destroyed my kitchen.” The ex-agent said simply, sitting the teapot lid in its place, “Melinda got him shot, and decided to use my counter to clean him up on. He bled all over my workspace, stained the wood.” Lian was stony faced, an expression Daisy recognised as one May shared.

The girl watched as the elderly woman placed the teapot on the counter beside her, gauging her seriousness. Lian didn’t seem to be one to joke.

“All of this… is over a spoiled _kitchen_?” Daisy exclaimed, earning a cold look from Lian that caused her to backtrack, “Which is obviously… a totally legitimate reason to hold a grudge against someone.” Daisy gulped.

Lian heavily supressed a rare smile as she poured the tea, “I had just remodelled.”

“Please, Mama, not that story.” May entered the room was a sigh, followed by an apprehensive Coulson. She collected a cup of tea as Phil slipped into place beside Daisy, clambering onto a stool.

“Too late.” Daisy informed them.

Lian hummed to corroborate Daisy’s statement, giving Phil a short glare as she left to find her husband.

May groaned quietly into her morning beverage. Hoping against hope that Phil wasn’t about to do what she knew he was going to do.

“I did warn you.” Coulson muttered.

 

* * *

 

They stayed a long and somewhat exciting two weeks, in which the team grew used to their presence. Fitz, Hunter and William had even formed a somewhat unlikely trio.

After four embarrassing days of bad jokes and questionable decisions Bobbi was finally the one to draw a small laugh from Lian, winning herself a hefty 200 dollars and the awe of her fellow agents.

And, as it turned out, Lian May was actually a fair baker, once the team had loosened her resolve a little way they’d been in for a treat. Daisy had never learnt how to cook, it wasn’t something you could really teach yourself through Wikipedia, and, before now, she hadn’t had access to a stove since she was 12. Two minutes of her persistent, engaged presence had softened Lian just enough for her to give the girl a quick lesson. Lian May’s steamed cinnamon buns were an instant hit. Fresh bread was not a common commodity on the base. Daisy saw Jemma eat about four.

Daisy had, by this point, lost track of how much time she’d spent pouring over William May’s envelope. She found an old, empty wooden photo frame tucked in with some files in a storage room they didn’t even use anymore, and slipped the photo of May and Coulson inside. It was a perfect fit. Daisy placed it on her nightstand, ignoring the double take it received from Mack when he came to fetch her from her bunk early the next day.

William May wrapped the girl up in a hug before he pottered up the gangway and out of sight, trailing his wife, the noise of the engine growing as it came to life.

Hunter looked almost emotional as the man ascended, “Gonna miss that old codger.”

“They’re comin’ back, right?” Fitz inquired, looking to May.

Melinda tore her gaze from Fitz to find Coulson at her side, “That’s up to the Director.”

An impressive amount of pairs of hopeful, keen eyes turned on Phil in that moment as his own fell to find May giving him a small smirk. She may have regretted her decision to bring them in more than once during their stay, but still, she had won.

 

 

* * *

 

 

__please follow me at[coulsonskids](http://www.coulsonskids.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! i'm taking prompts_ _

* * *

 

 


End file.
